OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — After a more than five-hour meeting, the Overland Park City Council voted overnight Tuesday to send a 446-unit development at 135th Street and Antioch Road back to the planning commission.
October is the earliest the development by Ryan Companies can be seen there.
Council chambers were a sea of red as dozens of neighbors stood against the apartment complex plan, echoing their message: “Stop High-Density Apartments.”
“We’re wearing red for solidarity,” resident Jennifer Bailey said.
Council members heard from the developers and the home owners association pushing back on concerns over traffic and parking.
“That piece of ground has been very quiet for all these years,” Bailey said. “I’ve lived here 25 years and to think about all those people, all those vehicles, the litter, the noise, the lights, all that stuff, it just really is not conducive to that part of town.”
Neighbors are worried about unmanageable traffic congestion.
The city reaffirmed in a study from Aug. 11 that their data does not support that.
“They didn’t do a real study,” resident Chris Confer said. “They cobbled some cut-and-paste information using averages from other cities and other situations to attempt to answer our problems, our issues, and I don’t think it’s a legitimate traffic study.”
Brandon Brensing, Ryan Companies VP of Development, denied comment to FOX4 News prior to and after the meeting.
Brensing previously told FOX4 News he believes the development would improve the area, adding traffic infrastructure like a left turn lane off Antioch Road into the complex.
“This project is not asking for anything which is out of the norm for what the city has approved with nearby projects,” Brensing said. “And what we’ve actually proposed is less density, fewer stories, and significantly further for single-family neighbors in close proximity.”
Brensing noted the complex would be built with only private funds.
